First Look: Seasonic M12D 850W PSU

Cables and Connectors

Cables connected to the PSU include:

• One 55cm 24-pin ATX cable
  
• One 60cm 4-pin EPS12V CPU power cable
  
• One 60cm 8-pin EPS12V CPU power cable
  
• Two 60cm 6+2-pin PCI-Express power cables
  
• One SATA power cable with connectors at 30cm, 45cm and 60cm

Modular cables include

• One SATA power cable with connectors at 30cm and 45cm
  
• One Molex power cable with connectors at 30cm and 45cm
  
• One Molex power cable with connectors at 55cm, 70cm and 85cm
  
• One SATA power cable with connectors at 55cm, 75cm and 85cm
  
• One SATA power cable wtih connectors at 45cm, 60cm and 75cm
  
• One Molex power cable wtih connectors at 45cm, 60cm and 75cm
  
• Two 55cm 6+2-pin PCI-Express power cables
  
• One 15cm Molex to two floppy power adapter

Seasonic does what few other companies do and actual varies the length of its modular cables. This means it's easier to find more appropriate lengths for different hardware layouts, rather than just a one size fits all model - it is something we always encourage so we're glad to see it here.

In our opinion the connectors used are all the right type: they are all black matching the PSU, the SATA connectors are 90 degree, the Molex connectors come with push-release clips and the 6+2-pin PCI-Express clips are very neat. However, we'd like to have seen a 4+4 EPS12V connector for a workstation board, rather than just a 4-pin in addition to the usually used 8-pin. Also, including both hard-wired to the PSU means that one will always be spare and left to tidy.


The braiding is pretty good but in all honesty we've seen better - the ends slip up and down and the diameter doesn't fit as well as some other brands (the ATX cable in particular). We are impressed with the use of thicker 16AWG wire (affording less resistance and heat) where it matters though - not only on the PCI-Express and EPS12V cables, but also for most of the ATX cables too which is more unusual.

Another nice addition is the inclusion of a Molex to floppy power adapter cable. There are very few uses for floppy power plugs these days but having an adapter spare is always useful and if you don't need it, it doesn't dangle pointlessly as extra mess to tidy. Awesome.